The present invention relates to printers and, more particularly, to printer control means in the form of microprocessor based circuitry for controlling all operations of the printer and providing flexibility not heretofore available through conventional printer control apparatus.
Printers find widespread use throughout commercial, industrial and military applications, as well as the home consumer market. The printers are typically interfaced with computers and/or a communications link for the purpose of printing the data being processed or being transmitted, as the case may be. Conventional printers are typically comprised of a register for receiving incoming data and printing the received data when the register is filled. Suitable hardwired logic of a fixed type routine is provided for performing the functions necessary for accepting data from the computer or communications link and, thereafter, printing the accepted data. Hardwired circuitry of this type is incapable of providing the flexibility desired, and, in many cases, even required of a printer in order to be capable of use through a wide variety of applications. In addition to providing such flexibility, it is also important to be able to do so at a practical cost.